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Preschool education

Get advice from other Mumsnetters to find the best nursery for your child on our Preschool forum.

Affordable prep schools??

25 replies

FreeSpiritWithin · 22/03/2018 16:37

Hi I am looking for preprep schools for my son in London within the budget of £5000 a term. Its a strange ask but considering that is our limit, I was wondering if anyone here knows of prep schools (4+ entry) in North/South/East London that fall within this budget?

OP posts:
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Fekko · 22/03/2018 18:38

Hill house?

FreeSpiritWithin · 25/03/2018 11:14

Thanks Fekko - have been looking at Hill House. Any idea of what the school is like? Any personal experience?

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AsAProfessionalFekko · 25/03/2018 11:16

My experience is very old but I know a few parents who sent their kids there and they seem happy with it.

It's best to go and have a nosey around the school and watch the parents at drop off and see how the kids act around the teachers and head.

AsAProfessionalFekko · 25/03/2018 11:17

Have you any thoughts on secondary? You'd be looking for a scholarship at city for that amount.

FreeSpiritWithin · 27/03/2018 11:24

For Secondary we would like our DS to sit for 7+ or 11+ assessments for City of London boys, Highgate, Westminister amongst others and a few grammer schools that we can commute to.

Considering there wasnt a lot of choice, we have now increased our budget for schooling although we wont be going above 6k per term. So now we do have a few more options all around London.

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AsAProfessionalFekko · 27/03/2018 17:09

Think about what age the school goes to.

Some that go to 13 don't find that they have brilliant success at 11 (for various reasons) and some schools won't allow you to apply for both 11 and 13+ (as the exams will run at about the same time for the same child).

mumteacher · 31/03/2018 00:08

There are many schools which would fall within your price bracket. You may need to narrow down your location.

Puffycat · 31/03/2018 00:22

Thomas’s all the way.
There’s Battersea (might find tough comp tho now that the royals have found it)
Clapham, Fulham & Kensington

FreeSpiritWithin · 31/03/2018 12:48

Thanks mumteacher - we are renting at the moment so totally flexible with locations. My DH works in West London while I work in Shoreditch so we are happy to commute as long as we live close to our son's school. Could you give me a few options? I just dont know where to start looking.

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FreeSpiritWithin · 31/03/2018 12:49

Thanks Puffycat - Could you give me the full name of the school please? We shifted to London only last year so not very familiar with schools in all locations.

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AsAProfessionalFekko · 31/03/2018 12:51

I wouldn't personally recommend Thomas' but I'm sure others have had decent experience there.

AnotherNewt · 31/03/2018 12:59

Is your limit £5k looking at fees throughout the prep?

Or do you expect you will be able to afford more for the 7+ years?

Because there are quite a lot of schools where the lower school fees (age 4-7) would fall in to your price range, but the upper school fees are more, so I was wondering about affordability all through, as you may not want to move at that point. I'm assuming you have allowed for school fee inflation typically running higher than other inflation indices, and the costs for childcare, if you need it, during the hols which are longer than those of state schools.

Do you prefer single sex, coed or have no strong preference?

Also I'm assuming entry next year, not this Sept as those allocations have been made. The new prices should be published about now, but of course they might be higher again by the time you are looking for entry. Do you need headroom on the price, or is price now OK?

AnotherNewt · 31/03/2018 13:01

All the Thomas schools already have fees from age 4 at over £5k (just looked) so they can all be crossed off.

donnaeastman · 17/04/2018 04:09

It's better to visit some schools yourself and have a little chitchat with the parents out there to gain more information on how the school works.

namechangealerttt · 17/04/2018 04:55

At Christopher's the hall in Beckenham. I know someone with IDs there, very happy. A lot of parents hope for grammar schools for secondary.

namechangealerttt · 17/04/2018 04:55

*kids

FreeSpiritWithin · 17/04/2018 07:57

Thanks a lot everyone. So here is our situation - we really wanted our DS to get through a school at 3+ which is this year September intake and although it was tough we have got 3 offers which we are considering at the moment.

  • Lyceum School in Shoreditch
  • Falcon Boys in Chiswick
  • Merchant Taylor Boys in Rickmansworth

He is also due to sit for assessments this year in September/October/November for 4+ entries to the following:

  • St Paul's Cathedral School
  • Forest School
-St Dunstan's College

So now I need advice as to what would be the the best option. We are renting at the moment so moving anywhere in London for the right school is not a problem but need some guidance regarding the schools. There is no gaurentee that DS will get through the assessments for any of the 4+ schools so need to compare them to the schools we currently have offers from.

Please help!

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FreeSpiritWithin · 17/04/2018 08:03

AnotherNewt - We don't want to ideally spend more 6k for fees for prep school but we have taken into consideration that the fees will be a lot higher in secondary (in case DS can't crack the gramme schools)
We have no preference over coed or only boys - DS is extremely social so hopefully can manage in either surroundings.

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Yvest · 17/04/2018 08:06

Go for merchant Taylor’s, amazing school and you can take him through to 18 but the senior school will be way over £5k a term and they won’t prep at all for 11+

FreeSpiritWithin · 29/04/2018 09:51

Thanks Yvest - have registered for Merchant Taylors but not sure if DS will get through the assessments as apparently they are pretty grilling even at 4+

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FreeSpiritWithin · 29/04/2018 09:53

Does anyone here have any experience or advice on Dwight School in Barnet? We have been considering it but not sure of how good an IBM school it is.

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CruCru · 11/05/2018 21:34

My son goes to SPCS and we are incredibly happy with it. You have quite a spread of schools (geographically) so I can’t comment on the other schools.

FreeSpiritWithin · 13/05/2018 22:05

Thanks @CruCru - we are keeping our fingers tightly crossed for SPCS. We will be the happiest if he gets through SPCS as we can continue living where we are - for all other schools we have to move. But Ive heard its not easy getting through so looking for back ups.

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Elakkiya · 29/07/2018 03:40

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nursery PRICES in London19
14/08/2006 12:02 anka7

Ignore my ''nursery prizes in London'' thread!! spelling not my best feature...

First time mum here and don't have any friends with children, so don't have any idea what are the nursery prices in London.
Would like to put my DD to day nursery when she's 12 months but don't know yet will it be for part-time or full-time.

Any information would be great.

14/08/2006 12:25 Mumby

My ds (2.3) is in a nursery in Shepherd's Bush which costs around £40 a day (8am-6pm). He does 2 and a half days a week which comes to around £400 a month. I think it was more like £50/day when he was under 2 because of the staffing ratio.

Might be cheaper if you can go for a 9-5 type set-up.

Have heard that £60/day (gulp) is not unusual in some areas.

14/08/2006 12:26 blueshoes

In my area (SE London), where nursery places for under-twos are like golddust, it costs £1,000 per month fulltime (open 51 weeks a year) at my dd's - it is a chain nursery.

Depends on the area though.

14/08/2006 12:38 anka7

I live in SW London and from other thread (can't find it now) I picked up that this might be one of expensive areas in London. Is that true?

14/08/2006 12:51 Marina

Could well be anka7. But not necessarily, as supply and demand often takes precedence over property values and/or "desirability".
Like blueshoes I live in SE London and nursery prices here are indeed £1000 per month for a f/t place, even though average earnings and property prices in SE London are lower than most of the rest of the capital

You really need the advice of Mner bubble99, who runs a very small and terrific-sounding nursery business somewhere out your way!
Good luck and welcome to Mumsnet.

14/08/2006 17:41 DollyP

I am in SE London and DD (16 months) goes 2 days a week at £57 per day.

I wonder if we SE London mums all have our babies at the same place?

Nurturing your child's speech and language development

14/08/2006 21:02 Marina

Quite possible Dolly! There was virtually no choice at all when we were signing dd up (unborn!) but I think the situation has improved a little in my area - and new competition has encouraged the chain our nursery belongs to to finally do some long overdue building renovations!

14/08/2006 22:24 daysoftheweek

Hi around 1000 pounds a month (depends on whether 4 week or 5 week month) but again for one with quite long hours if you can do 9-330 or less much cheaper. Would echo advice re talking to bubble99 her nurseries sound fab (unfortunately not near me).

14/08/2006 22:33 lemonaid

I'm in Putney and the good nurseries are £1250 - £1400 pcm for a full-time place (£57-£65 as a day rate for part time). There are cheaper places but people I know who've tried them have been dissatisfied (with the crap nature of the food at one did Jamie Oliver suffer for nothing? and with the lack of interest/supervision by staff in another). You do get very good nurseries for your money, but it is a staggering amount of money.

If you are further out Twickenham way then bubble99's nursery always sounds fab.

14/08/2006 22:34 lemonaid

Which bit of SW London are you?

14/08/2006 22:47 frogs

I have a 9am-3.15pm place for dd2 three days a week in a fantastic voluntary/community nursery, and pay £28.50 a day. Looking at the fee chart, the cost for a full day (9am to 6pm) would be £33 per day if you did full five days a week, proportionately slightly more for fewer days. You are expected to help out one session a month, though, and they don't take children under 18 months.

The food is cooked onsite and is fantastic -- the staff take it in turns to cook, and seem to produce really appetizing imaginative food.

So cheaper options need not be worse -- I suspect whether the nursery is run for profit or not would make a big difference.

14/08/2006 22:56 lemonaid

Where are you, frogs?

14/08/2006 23:04 frogs

'Ackney.

14/08/2006 23:07 lemonaid

Bugger. Should never have left Hackney for the glittering lights of SW London when I met DH. I'd be... umm... lots better off now.

Really, around here there aren't AFAIK any community/voluntary nurseries that aren't means-tested.

14/08/2006 23:25 frogs

Really? The Islington community nurseries have a certain number of full-fee places set aside, presumably with the intention of making extra income and broadening the social intake at the same time.

And the proper community nurseries in Hackney I think do the same -- hoxtonchick has her ds and dd at Mapledene, and is delighted. Mapledene are notorious (if that's the right word) for doing all the shopping for the nursery kids' mealtimes in the organic section at Waitrose.

The only downside of the voluntary/council kind of setup is that they are less assiduous about catering for parents' well-being than they are about focussing on what's best for the children (not unreasonably, one might think). So they don't go a bundle on the whole 'drop 'em off at 8am and pick them up at 6.30' scenario. Ours is about to shut for three weeks, and doesn't open till the schools go back. Sob. But they do also run an after-school club, and do pickups from three local primary schools, including the one my older two children go to. And it's lovely, all very free-flowing and creative, in a Stoke Newington kind of way.

Don't you wish you'd never moved away?

20/08/2006 19:26 spudballoo

Frogs that sounds fab, I'm in 'ackney too. My DS (about to turn 1) has just started at Montessori on the Park for 2.5 days a week, for an eye watering £500 a month. Bugging because I don't actually NEED 2.5 days, just wanted 3 sessions but they don't offer than flexibility.

x

21/08/2006 09:31 mapleleaf

If you have a look on childcarelink.gov.uk and put in your postcode they will give you a list of all your boroughs nurseries, and most say the cost. I too live in SW london and the nurseries are around £50-£60 per day. TBH i'd seriously get your name on a few waiting lists as places at the good ones are scarce.

21/08/2006 12:26 anka7

thanks everybody, have to start thinking very seriously about nurseries, there's not much time left..

lemonaid - I'm in Wandsworth.

mapleleaf - thanks for that link, will have a look in a minute

Today 03:29 Elakkiya

Hi friends...
I just moved in to Shepard's Bush from India... I'm looking for nursery which costs around 500 💷 a month for 2 yr old son... Flexible for any timing... He is kind lonely in house... Going to nursery will make things better.. pls help me find a nursery with low cost, as far as I enquired they charge around 1300 to 1500 a month... I can't afford that much

Elakkiya · 29/07/2018 03:50

Hi friends...
I just moved in to Shepard's Bush from India... I'm looking for nursery which costs around 500 💷 a month for 2 yr old son... Flexible for any timing... He is kind lonely in house... Going to nursery will make things better.. pls help me find a nursery with low cost, as far as I enquired they charge around 1300 to 1500 a month... I can't afford that much

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